Class Notes

Class Notes for 1971

Aside from a ridiculously wet month of June here in the Northeast, and aside from a hot and humid spell in late July, this has been a spectacular summer, now drawing to a close. Fingers crossed that no natural disasters hit any of you across the country as we head into winter. * Nick Nash reports that Jay Reiter dragged him to a reunion of Tau Delts this summer in Rockport, Mass. Attendees included Bob Aisner ’68, Alan Crosby ’68, Bill Goldfarb ’68, Bernie Davidson ’68, and Artie White ’70. Nick’s son flew in to climb Mount Katahdin with him for the first time. He also had an extended family outing on Martha’s Vineyard with his daughter. * Fondly remembering his days at Colby and his escapades at Alpha Tau Omega, Rich Beaty writes that he and his wife stay very busy with their duties at the Church of Scientology in New York City. They live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with their son and golden retriever. Rich hasn’t seen anyone from Colby in many years except for Chris Palmer ’72. Rich looks forward to being a meddling grandparent of his first grandchild. * Now living in Portland, Maine, Val Thibeau Yates works at the United Way of Greater Portland and loves it. One son lives in Boston and another in Virginia Beach; she tries to see them every few months. Val recently attended a wedding shower for the son of Jack ’76 and Susan Reed Parker ’76 in Hanover, N.H., where she enjoyed visiting with a lot of Colby friends. Kathy Stoddard Pope and Val get together frequently, too. * Chip Altholz just had his 50th eighth grade reunion with 25 percent of his class attending, and he was reminded of the power of friendship. So many indelible memories of his time at Colby are as fresh as ever in his mind. He and his wife, Linda, just bought a beach house, and Chip is still working on his Internet project to empower teens. He enjoys the trip updates from Dave Nelson. * From western Massachusetts, Rob Wilson writes that he is enjoying his so-called retirement from the executive director position at the nonprofit Veterans Education Project. He loves that he can now continue to do what he loved about his job without all the administrative responsibilities and headaches. With less pressure and new flexibility, he is now cured of work-related insomnia. He and his wife plan to do more traveling. * Jon Stone is about to welcome his fifth grandchild! * Roger Osborn writes with the sad news that our classmate Cheryl Thomas passed away unexpectedly in July. * Martha Smith Mickles is happy to report that as of this August, she will have married her partner of 22 years, Calien Lewis, due to the recent DOMA ruling and the state of Maine’s marriage equality law. She will be keeping her name. Martha is still gainfully employed, healthy, and looking forward to a trip to Ireland next April. * Congratulations are in order for Leslie Anderson, whose book of paintings from her Summer Stories series will be published in November 2013 by Shanti Arts Publishing of Brunswick, Maine. The painting on the cover of the book is of her Colby “gang” on Debbie Messer Zlatin’s dock. * Fred Copithorn has just returned from a road trip across the country to deposit his niece’s car in Denver. * Bill Hladky continues to be proud of his son’s accomplishments. * Having been to the Baltic region this summer, and then to New Brunswick, Canada, I am happy to be more or less back to my native land in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. (I did not run into Jon Stone in the Baltics.)